GW: When did you start rapping?
Slime Balla: I started rapping in 1993, when I was ten years old. I use to rap when I was walking home from school a lot. I start writing when I was actually twelve, but didn’t start actually putting it together and recording until I was fourteen and I’ve been at it ever since.

GW: When did you start Slime Money and how did it come about?
Slime Balla: Slime Money Entertainment originally started in 2003. I had moved to California in 2001 by myself and when I came back home all my home boys were rappin’ and we’d been rapping, so we sat down together to come up with something we could call ourselves to make it like a real movement. More than just the city that we’re from, we’re trying to make it a whole state thing, a regional thing. First we came up with Slime because that’s something we use to always say. But we had a meaning S.L.I.M.E. stands for Savage Living In Masgus Empire, but it ended up getting so big out of our city that we now call it Savage Living In Michigan Everyday. And that’s how we came up with the actual Slime Money name. And when we first came up with the Slime Money name we was doing a show and one of the promoters had seen our name and said we needed to change our name because wasn’t nobody gonna come, but we ended up keepin it and going from there.

GW: And you’re the leader of the pack?
Slime Balla: Yes, CEO, Slime president. There are three of us that originally put this together and everybody is still together, we still movin’.

GW: Do you have any other artists?
Slime Balla: Yeah! There’s a lot of artist in Slime Money Entertainment. There are over twelve artists. I’m an independent solo artist myself, ya know Big Boi Slime Balla. We also got Gutter Slime a solo artist, we got RobbLow, we got Sin City, Trill For Shezzy, we got a group called BBA (Brooke Boys Affiliated), they also with Slime Money Entertainment.

GW: I know you do a lot of shows around the country….
Slime Balla: We do most of our shows in the Midwest region, did a lot of our shows in Grand Rapids, Michigan and Detroit, all over the state of Michigan. We also did shows in Atlanta, Los Angeles we’ve done show in a lot of different places. And we have opened up for a lot of people like CTV, Lil Weeby, Lil Scrappy, Lloyd Banks, Ludacris just to name a few. We have this club up here where we were headlining for different people each week, then we grew from there and start traveling all of the state, then we went to California from there on the same mission. Now we got this Everything Workin Tour goin on and Slime Money Entertainment is headlining the 8 city tour. Go around so these different cities and get people familiar with the name.

GW: I want to ask you about your music video “I’m Tellin You”, because a lot of people have seen it on GUTTA WORLD and think the scene when you’re getting arrested is staged. Is it?Slime Balla: [Laughs] Here’s the run down on what happened; the day before we shot the “I’m Tellin You” video we shot the “Gucci” video. We had rented the whole club out and shot the video there and then throw a big after party. Then the next day we woke up at the hotel from the after party at like nine in the mornin’ and then drove to Mastegen to shot the “I’m Tellin You” video. And when we were on our way to Mastegen one of my home boys; he knew I had warrants or whatever; and he knew the police were going to mess with us shooting the video and everything in the neighborhood and he was like you know if you go to jail right now, that be good for the video yea know what I mean. So we actually get there and start shooting the video and when we are actually shooting the video the police pull up and I already know what their comin for. So I go into the store because they already know who I was and tell them and the police ask me to come outside and ask me my name because they knew I had warrants and they wanted to take me to jail right then and there. But the store owner told em’ that since we had so many people out there in front of the store, the store owner wanted to get it over with so he asked the police if we could at least finished this shot and then take me to jail, so we didn’t have to gather all these people up again and bring them back to the store. So the police ended up sitting across the street the whole time we were shooting the scene at the store and as soon as we were done with that scene they came over and arrested me. It’s far from staged, we ain’t those type of people that play like that to call the police and be like he buddy come down here and arrest me, no we don’t do that! Hahaha!

GW: Let’s talk about your album…
Slime Balla: The album it’s supposed to be out in the next couple of weeks, but I’m lookin for a date for the actual album to come out. But we actually have this tour and everything going on so we wanted to incorporate more marketing and stuff of that nature, and get more people aware that it’s coming out. So we’re actually going to start the tour first then come out with the album. So we’re looking at July 24th as the release date for that “Welcome To My World” vol. 3, it’s still Slime Money or No Money. Basically with the album I worked with a producer Sin City, he’s also with Slime Money Entertainment, he’s our household producer. He’s the same guy that made the track “I’m Tellin You” and “Everything Workin’” and “Gucci”, he’s actually produced ten of the tracks I have on there. I worked with a couple of producers out of Atlanta, I have a producer out of Grand Rapids, Michigan his name is K Sick, he’s on this project. Basically this project is, I’ve been doing a lot of mixtapes since like 2005, so this is an album to let people really know like Welcome To My World and whats really goin’ on other than this mixtape music. And to give the fans and people listening to my music a better perspective on how I really put music together, this is really a growth process for this album. Ya know what I mean, this is real songs real music. But ya know we plan on doing a lot of numbers, we got the whole region over here behind us, ya know we’re just tryin’ to spread the word through the whole nation.

GW: What do you think makes you and your style different from any other rap artist?
Slime Balla: Honestly what I think makes my style different then all the other rappers is that it’s not watered down, we still got raw uncut rap. Ya know its like we from the city Mustgene, Michigan; it’s like one of the brokes states in the United States of America. Ya know we have two of the top five murder caplitols in this state, ya know the crime rate is real high so it’s like when you really hear the music and you’ve been in the region or the environment then you can really tell that it’s really real rap. So with me the difference than other artists is I’d have to say that, I really spit real rap. It’s like even though I’ve been to places and lived in places like Hollywood and Atlanta this is where I usually be at a lot of the time, that’s why the rap is so raw and uncut because I’m still right here in the trenches and the everyday stuggle with everything is still going on. I’m not rapping it from a third person on the outside looking in, I’m rapping from the inside out. So that’s what I think really makes me different and my whole Slime Money Entertainment is different than any artist’s that is in the game right now that’s really doing anything. Ya know theres a lot of artists that is in the game that don’t have the street in them or don’t come from that type of background. As of now everything in the game right now is watered down, I say that’s what differentiates us from the others, we got raw rap straight drop.

GW: Is that where you get your motivation for you lyrics; just the events that you have gone through?
Slime Balla: Yeah, yeah, a lot of the motivation for my lyrics is strictly life experiences, either things that have happened to me or someone very close to me, you know nobody I just knew or heard of, someone I deal with on a day to day basis. And it’s really hard for me to right about anything other than that, even though I can because I’m talented I can rap about whatever. But you know the stuff that goes on is what’s always on my mind, that’s why the songs come out like they do.

GW: What are your goals as an artist and with Slime Money Entertainment?
Slime Balla: My goal as an artist is of course to sell more albums than have ever been sold by an artist in my genre. [Laughs] But really we’re just right now we’re looking for distribution, just trying to keep our movement going. We come from a place where we don’t really have no artists so with my career I just wanna ya know do what its suppose to do. You know you get out what you put in, you know I’m just trying to make myself a better artist and grow through the whole process of becoming an artist, businessman, entaurpenur and all of that. With the music I ultimately want us to go to the top of the billboards and star to take the rap game back over and put it to where it needs to be, where it started off at, ya know in the streets not all of this lollipop popcorn rap. Ya know we’re tryin’ to be the new Interscope not Cash Money ya know what I mean?! Ya know something like that. Just expand and get as big as possible. We want the whole world to really feel the music, listen and really know whats going on. Just trying to be heard.

GW: Are the rumors true that your’re now working with Luvelli?
Slime Balla: Jon Luvelli is an industry mastermind, ya know got a lot goin’ on. Ya know I think what we doin’ with the Grime Gang and Slime Money thing is gonna be real big. He’s got a lot of really good connections and angles he’s tryin’ to work and I got my marketing, group and fan base and we put them together and the sky is the limit with that yea know. So I’m really looking forward to that and expanding and making this what it needs to be for the whole industry. All green everything!!

GW: Are you going to be collaborating on any songs with Luvelli?
Slime Balla: Yeah, ya know I’m going to have to really get with LUVELLI and build everything from scratch. We really want the public to listen to what we got to talk about. In his music he really talks about a lot of stuff that will really go over your head, ya know what I mean, but if you really sit there and listen to it you really understand what he’s trying to say. And my music is the same way, so you know we put it together and ultimately the listeners will have something to listen to and not just ride around and bob their head to. They’ll really have to listen and understand where we’re coming from. Ya know so I’m looking forward to that, collabing with LUVELLI and making all that AREA 112 and A112GGA with Knoc’Turnal and everybody and blowin’ that up and making it a real powerful movement.

GW: What are your struggles as an artist?
Slime Balla: [Laughs] Man struggles, have we came across any stuggles? I mean we’re stuglling right now. We come across a lot of obsticles. When we started doing what we’re doing there were people that started hatin’, just looking at us like we don’t like them no more and all this type of stuff. Haters everywhere you go. But cureently I’m going through a little situation with the Mustegen Police Department.

GW: They need to get off your ass don’t they?
Slime Balla: Yes the most definetly do, but their on it though. I’m still going through that situation, I start trial in August and hopefully that a go good and I’ll still be on the streets and everything, workin’ still. Going through that little case ya know. I had originally was implicated in a homicide and got apprehended in California and extidited back to Michigan where they dropped them charges. Now I’m currently just going to court for a gun charge. Yeah we run across all kinds of struggles tyrin’ to push this Slime Money thing. We’re everything to the law except a record label. We a gang, we all kind of things, but we just do music. The obsticales are going to stay in the way, we just have to find a way to overcome them.

GW: Explain Slime Money and what you want fans and soon to be fans to know about the label.
Slime Balla: I want people to know that we’re from a city that what we’re doin never happened before and it probably never will again. And we’re from a state that kind of hold people down. Michigan was big back in the day with Motown and all of that was going on, and Eminem even came through and really kind of put Michigan on the map. The whole state is really struggling and it’s really bad over here as far as the living conditions and everything. So I just people to know like we’re really doing what we’re doing in extreme harsh living conditions. Ya know we gotta do what we gotta in do around a lot of people that don’t even do this type of stuff. But what we’re doin’, everything we have done, we have actually created our own market for this. We created a music scene in the city and not everybody raps. And we go from nobody rapping to creating a whole scene to where we’re headling a whole tour through the whole state. And every venue that we’re hitting is holding at least a thousand or more people and we’re trying to sell every one of the venues out. So we just want people to know that it’s a real grind with Slime Money and everything we did, we did from the ground up. With no label help backing us up or being around anybody that has been in the entertainment industry to tell us the steps that we need to go through to make it to where we have gotten today. I want people to know it’s Slim Money or No Money still! And it’s gonna stay that way.

GW: What do you say to people when they try and compare you or tell you that you look like rapper Rick Ross?
Slime Balla: What do I say when people try to compare or tell me I look like Rick Ross, huh? Usually when somebody say that, this is what I tell them, when I see him I’m going to knock his ass ! [Laughs] That’s what I mean. I don’t like the dude. I mean he make a couple alright songs, but you know that’s about it, I don’t listen to the dude. It’s real rap over here, we really do this, we not sittin’ on no 20 inch floor with our feet kicked up on no desk wonderin what’s goin on in the hood and rappin’ about it, ya know, I’m really seeing what’s going on and rapping about it. It’s really real so I don’t like Rick Ross, it’s Slime Money or No Money, tell him I said that!
We’ve been Slime over here ask your boy JR Ryder.